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The prosecutor in the trial of three Birmingham men accused of planning a suicide bomb plot told a jury today their plans could have culminated in death and injury on a "massive scale".

Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid, and Ashik Ali deny between them a total of 12 terrorism charges.

Brian Altman QC told the jury today

"The evidence does not reveal any settled or certain timescale for the terrorist attack these men were planning, nor does it betray an iconic target or geographic location, but the defendants’ words and actions demonstrate a settled intention at some point not too far off to execute their attack plan in this country, and with it ensure their own martyrdom. The fact that the defendants were now beginning to experiment with explosive mixes in some secrecy proves it.

"But for the timely disruption of the plot by the authorities, to whom it was quite clear that the defendants were attempting to develop a home-made explosive device, unheeded and permitted to run its course, this plot would have culminated in death and injury on a massive scale."

Police have released a surveillance image which allegedly shows three men from Birmingham posing as charity collectors, to raise funds for a bomb plot in the UK.

Irfan Naseer, 31, and Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali, who are both 27, deny a total of 12 terrorism charges and are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Continuing his opening of the case against the men today, prosecutor Brian Altman QC said anti terrorist police had launched a surveillance operation after two of the men returned from a visit to Pakistan last July.

He told the jury that surveillance images show the three defendants with buckets labelled as Muslim Aid, carrying out street collections in and around Birmingham's Stratford Road.

The prosecution claim more than £13,000 was raised, with just £1,500 being handed over to the charity, which had no knowledge of the alleged fraudulent collections. It claims the rest of the money raised was stolen for terrorist purposes.